Business, Entrepreneurship, and Organizations

Description

Business, Entrepreneurship and Organizations (BEO) is a multidisciplinary concentration that provides a rigorous and synergistic program in the study of commercial activity grounded in economics, sociology and engineering. BEO focuses on the formation, growth, and organization of new ventures, innovation in commercial applications, financial markets and the marketplace, and management and organizational theory. Concentrators seek to understand the basic principles, approaches and vocabulary relevant to the study of entrepreneurship from the disciplines of economics, organizational sociology and engineering. Building on this multidisciplinary base, students develop specialized expertise in one of the three disciplinary approaches, with special emphasis on critical reasoning and quantitative research methods. In senior year capstone projects, students apply and integrate multi-disciplinary learning by working in groups on real world projects, including the creation of new ventures. BEO students interested in the theory and practice of addressing social challenges might consider the Engaged Scholars Program.

Requirements

Honors and Capstones

BEO includes two types of activities designed to cap the educational experience of its students. One is a year-long project in entrepreneurship, another is a parallel, project in social entrepreneurship. Capstone experiences are supervised by faculty but require more initiative and self-motivation than other curricular endeavors. They are thus recommended for senior year.

Students may graduate with honors in any track if (1) they have excellent grades in concentration courses (2) they find one or more faculty members willing to supervise their work on a honors thesis, and (3) that faculty member finds the completed thesis to be of honors quality. The thesis advisor will normally be from the department corresponding to the student’s track, but can, with the permission of a BEO concentration advisor, be someone from another BEO-related department. Generally, the thesis requires two semesters of work during the senior year in addition to the concentration requirements. Please see the department's website for a complete description of program requirements.

Tracks

Business Economics

Entrepreneurship & Technology Management

Organizational Studies

Liberal Learning

This concentration allows you to address the following Liberal Learning goals:

Affiliated Departments

Advisors

Director of Undergraduate Studies

Graduating Class

Year

Total

Capstone

Honors

2013

66

29

4

2014

68

68

1

2015

79

79

2

2016

99

99

3

2017

84

84

2

Alumni Pathways

BEO prepares students to work in almost any arena, including corporate jobs in well-established companies, start-up ventures, global companies, local services, non-profit institutions, and governmental entities. Graduates of its precursor, the Commerce, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship program, are working as analysts for companies such as JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, conducting marketing and research for 454 Sciences and the Brookings Institute, consulting for Citrix Systems, Capital One, and Bain, or are in the process of starting up their own companies.